Before He Cheats
by Reiji Neko Mitsukai
Summary: Inspired by a bad mood and Carrie Underwood's Before He Cheats. Sally's fed up with Lightning's unfaithfulness, and she takes matters into her own tires...


Disclaimer: Don't own anyone besides Chardonelle and the random corvette.

Author's note: This is the result of a bad mood and Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats". You've been warned.

_Before He Cheats _

She could see him. Peering through the window, she could see him flirting with the red corvette. It didn't take much effort- she was probably drawn to him by his racing decals anyway. She was definitely returning the favor- she was leaning against him, fluttering her eyes at him.

It made her gas tank roll.

The thought of it disgusted her. He would do the same thing to that trampy corvette that he had done to her. And to the Miata twins. And the girl after her. And so on and so forth.

Doc was right. He _was_ the last thing the town needed.

By now they had turned towards the bar, chatting. No doubt he was bragging about how he _almost_ won the Piston Cup and how he _almost_ got the Dinoco sponsorship.

She couldn't watch anymore. She pulled away, slowly backing up before heading towards the back of the building.

Everything seemed to be going so well- Radiator Springs was well on its way to recovery, businesses were booming again, and she and Lightning had a secure relationship. She felt like he could have proposed to her at any moment. She was on cloud nine.

She had been blind to his behavior to the Miata twins- too caught up in her fantasy to believe what she was seeing. It was Flo that had tried to make her see what was really going on. They both knew that if the show car had seen Ramone acting like that, his wife wouldn't hesitate in letting him know how she felt about it. But she continued to be blind, believing that Lightning would _never_ cheat on her.

But apparently his "big city ways" had caught up with him- it wasn't until he showed up for a date- late, of all things- and only to tell her he was seeing one of the Miata twins. They were through.

A few weeks later, the twin he had been dating- Mia- showed up at her doorstep sobbing. She had drove in on Lightning and Tia having a romantic moment, and he had promptly dumped her for her twin sister.

Sally had considered telling her off- it was what she had done to her, after all- but instead she comforted the girl. Her relationship with her twin was ruined, and she latched on to Sally right away.

However, it wasn't very much longer before Tia joined them, much the way Mia had. Lightning had met a car coming through named Chardonelle, and had left Radiator Springs with her.

Sure enough, she later learned that Chardonelle was soon replaced with another woman.

Sally saw the pattern. And she knew it was time to stop it.

She turned into the dark alley behind the bar, the booming music inside still audible. There, beside a dumpster, she had hidden her tools: a baseball bat from Chardonelle, a knife from Mia and Tia (where they got it from she didn't even _want_ to ask), and a key from the Cozy Cone Motel.

Just a little message from each girl.

Soon enough the front door opened, and two cars came out.

"Hey baby- why don't you go wait in my trailer. I'll be there in a sec." He was using his low, seductive voice- the one he used on her in the courthouse!- and she barely managed to keep her engine from revving.

A feminine giggle. "Don't be too long!"

An audible kiss. "I'll be there like lightning."

Another giggle, and the corvette hurried towards the big red trailer in the parking lot.

It was several more moments before Lightning moved to follow, but he stopped at the sound coming from behind the bar.

"Hey there."

"Huh? Who's there?"

The reply came in a sultry, beckoning tone. "You're that famous racecar- Lightning McQueen- aren't you?"

She could almost see him swell with pride. "Yes, I am. And you are?"

A chuckle. "Let's just say I'm a fan. A really… _big_… fan."

A grin. "Why don't you come on out; I'll give you an autograph," he tempted.

An outright laugh this time. "You're the fastest thing on the racetrack- you'll be able to find me in no time."

His engine revved a little bit, and he ventured into the alley behind the bar. "Come out, come out where ever you are…" he called in a singsong voice as he neared the dumpster.

He never knew what hit him- until after the stars faded from his vision.

Sally had been careful to disguise her voice to lure him in. Now, with the stunning blow to the hood with Chardonelle's bat, he was right where she wanted him.

The first thing he noticed was the sizable dent in his hood. The next was the green eyes that stared at him; cold, unrelenting, unforgiving.

"Chardonelle says hi."

Another swing, another dent in his hood, another explosion of white. His breath caught in his throat, choking on the cry that tried to escape him. A few more swings, and he was barely conscious. His tires were spread out beneath him, his undercarriage almost touching the ground.

"And this is from the twins…!"

The bat was dropped and the knife picked up. The next thing Lightning knew, his foggy consciousness was cut open with the feel of the blade running down his sides- first one, then the other- accompanied by deeper jabs into his body. Oil leaked down to collect on the ground. The final touch was the slashing of all his tires, leaving him to roll on his rims if he tried to escape.

"Sally- _please_- stop!…" he gasped, trying to yell or scream- anything to get attention and get him help…

Unfortunately, the music was too loud for anyone to hear him inside, and the closest car besides Sally was the corvette waiting in his trailer. And there was no doubt she was busy making herself comfortable.

Finally, after what seemed like endless torture, the blade stopped.

"… Stop… _Please_… I never meant… to hurt you…"

She seemed to ignore his pleading. Instead, she pulled up in front of him. "And _this_ is from me." And with that she kissed him, full on the lips, before pulling away from the now thoroughly confused and injured car.

Then there was a sharp sting as she scraped the key into his sides, scraping his paint off and writing something. He actually managed to cry out with this attack, and stopped when it was done. He shuddered and collapsed completely to the ground, his consciousness now gone.

Tucking the key away into a safe place, Sally gathered the rest of the tools and calmly drove away, disappearing down the dark side of the parking lot before turning onto the road.

In the dark alleyway behind the bar, Lightning McQueen sat unresponsive. The names _MIA_, _TIA_, _CHARDONELLE_, and _SALLY_ were scratched into his paint along his sides, and the word _CHEATER_ was scrawled into his damaged hood, there for all to see.

_The End_

Author's Note: This was just something I had to get out of my system. It probably reads better with the lyrics in it.


End file.
